Washington [US], May 5: Private companies in the United States added 247,000 jobs in April, indicating slower job growth in a tight labor market, payroll data company Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported Wednesday.
"In April, the labor market recovery showed signs of slowing as the economy approaches full employment," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
Earlier data from the Labor Department showed that U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent in March as the Omicron-fuelled COVID-19 surge faded, which was slightly above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 percent.
"While hiring demand remains strong, labor supply shortages caused job gains to soften for both goods producers and services providers," said Richardson.
Service sector saw a job gain of 202,000 in April, while goods-producing sector added 46,000 jobs, according to the report produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody's Analytics.
Large firms hired 321,000 workers, medium-sized businesses added 46,000, while small companies cut 120,000 employees, the report showed, indicating an unbalanced recovery across different company sizes.
As the labor market tightens, small companies, with fewer than 50 employees, "struggle with competition for wages amid increased costs," Richardson said.
The ADP report came two days before the crucial monthly employment report to be released by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which will include employment data from both the private sector and the government.
Source: Xinhua